A brief return to Glasgow

The River Clyde, Glasgow

 

Greetings, all, from this interminable summer. Although the light has subtly changed in the past week or so - the shadows now have a softer edge and the days are growing shorter - we are still suffering through temps in the high 20s and low 30s, and it's been very, very humid. *YUCK* 

I am happy to report, however, that we have had two days when it has actually rained for a couple of hours, a blessed relief to all. 

A few weeks ago we had a brief jaunt back to Glasgow, for the first time since 2017 (good grief - where did those years go?!). We were attending the wedding of our neighbours Rich and Alex, in company with a number of other Frensham residents and staff.

We'd long been considering our travel options. With the airports in turmoil due to lack of baggage handlers and other staff, and British trains not only being the most expensive in the world but also currently subject to industrial action (which we wholeheartedly support - solidarity with the workers! ✊), we made the environmentally less friendly decision to drive. 

Yes, that's green grass in Cumbria!
The tops of these hills are always treeless and quite dry-looking, but look at the grass
lower down the hill and along the side of the road

Google Maps told us the journey should take about seven hours so we added another three to allow for pit stops and the inevitable congestion / roadworks / enforced detours. We set off at 8am, pleased to be leaving behind the continuing extreme heat in the south of England (high 30s) and heading to relatively cool Scotland.

It was fascinating to see that as soon as we reached Cumbria (the Lake District), the scenery magically transformed from a parched, yellow landscape to a lush, green one. Although rainfall is also down in the north of England, they have not suffered the same extremes of temperatures for months on end and they have had regular periods of wet weather.

Welcome to Scotland
- still warmer than I like it (about 27ºC) but close to 10ºC cooler than Surrey!

It was great to return to this very interesting city. Glasgow really does have a lot of beautiful architecture, and we were pleased to see that despite Scotland still being the 'poor cousin' to England economically, there's a lot of regeneration and development throughout the city. 

We happened to visit whilst the World Pipe Band Championships was in full swing, and the streets were full of kilted and otherwise suited pipers, hauling their instruments around the city each day to gather on Glasgow Green for two days of intense competition.

Glasgow City Chambers, just down the hill from our hotel in Glasgow

The Beresford Building on Sauchiehall Street
- about to be redeveloped into apartments

Victoria Bridge, Glasgow

Decorative detail of the Albert Bridge in Glasgow

Sunlight through the decorative sides of the Albert Bridge in Glasgow, 
creating lovely patterns on the pavement

Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art

The iconic statue of the Duke of Wellington, which since the 1980s has sported
a traffic cone. This started as a prank but was embraced with gusto by Glaswegians and the cone
is now a constant fixture, the style of cone changing with the seasons.
You can read the story here - people power!

Building that formerly housed The Glasgow Evening Citizen newspaper, on St Vincent Place.
It's now office space and a bar and restaurant called, sensibly, The Citizen

The Princes Square shopping centre on Buchanan Street in Glasgow.
Built in the 1840s, the building façade is crowned by an art nouveau metalwork peacock,
with 'foliage' that extends down the building - these were added in the late 1980s

In reacquainting ourselves with this city it became clear there are still plenty of places that are run-down, and there is clearly still a significant population of underprivileged, but we've always found Glasgow to be incredibly friendly. We'd hesitate to walk down some of its less salubrious streets after dark but every city has such areas. 

And we've always been drawn to 'edgy' places, Berlin being a good case in point. There's nothing I like better than wandering around a city that proudly wears its history on its sleeve - contemporary buildings shouting their economic prosperity while around the corner there are crumbling buildings scarred by war and graffiti through the decades. Glasgow provides endless examples of this kind of juxtaposition between the haves and the have-nots.

The day after the wedding, which was held at WEST Brewery located - confusingly - in the eastern part of central Glasgow, near Glasgow Green (which, by the way, was where the piper championships were being held), we trudged from one end of the city to the other for the entire day, revisiting familiar attractions and scoping out new ones.

There are several murals depicting Billy Connolly around Glasgow.
This one was on Osborne Street

The 'rustic' entry to The Hidden Lane in Finnieston, Glasgow

Vibrant colours have transformed this little nook -
part of The Hidden Lane in Finnieston, Glasgow

Quirky shops and galleries in The Hidden Lane in Finnieston, Glasgow

Pipers sinking pints in The Hidden Lane - at 10am on a Saturday morning!
Ah, Glasgow... 🤭

One of the reasons we love Glasgow is the food, and I'm sure that surprises some of you. 

Now, Scotland might be infamous for its reputation of deep-fried everything (remember the 1990s culinary low of the deep-fried Mars Bar?), and certainly the health statistics of this country indicate that the everyday diet of many Scots is less than ideal. However, every time we've been to Glasgow be have been blown away by the superb quality of food, and particularly the local Scottish produce and - my favourite cuisine - the Italian food. You might recall we spent last Christmas in Edinburgh and discovered the standard of food there was very high, and that more elegant city probably has a great number of high-end venues, however as I reported in my blog post back in 2017, we have consistently found that Glasgow has the best Italian food outside of Italy.

As such, a priority for this short visit was to return to Sarti on Bath Street, where five years ago Kevin ate his own body weight in mussels in spicy tomato sauce. On the first evening of this trip we had been tired after the nine-hour drive from Surrey and made do with a buzzing, gigantic pizza place just around the corner from our hotel. It was really noisy and vibrant, but that was fine as we didn't want to linger. We saved the return visit to Sarti for our final night in Glasgow. We were not disappointed! 

Once again we were charmed by the friendly vibe of this busy, family-run restaurant which offers authentic Italian food, with a far broader range of dishes than you are offered in southern England, including many vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. This place has moved with the times whilst retaining traditional elements. The seasonal specials are always worthwhile, and I enjoyed pasta served with a lentil ragu while Kevin opted for pesto. We just about saved room for dessert - although it was superb, I couldn't quite finish the Torta della Nonna which you can also order for home delivery if you live in Glasgow, but  Kevin managed to polish off one of the dessert specials, the chocolate orange cake which was as moist and orange-y as it should have been, with a gooey vein of orange custard running through it. 

Believe it or not, that's a starter serving of Cozze alla Livornese o Cozze
(Blueshell mussels in garlic, chilli & tomato)
- Kevin's long-awaited favourite dish at Sarti Bath Street

Sarti's superb Torta della Nonna:
light shortcrust pastry filled with lemon crema pasticciera, topped with icing sugar and pine kernels

One of the day's dessert specials at Sarti on Bath Street: chocolate orange cake

Il meglio del buona - 'the best of the good'
And yes, Sarti on Bath Street is all that!
(and there's a truly superb espresso under that wafer)

'Pardon?'
Noisy but vibrant - Kevin struggling to hear me at Paesano in Glasgow (pizza place)

We also found excellent breakfast venues each morning, delighted to discover that one is able to order a 'long black' in many venues across this city. If you are not familiar with Scottish cuisine, they do indeed eat haggis for breakfast as well as something called square sausage (formal name Lorne Sausage). Naturally, as non meat eaters, we were able to resist these temptations but I did enjoy vegetarian haggis with my poached eggs on our first morning. 

Further culinary indulgence was had via a return visit to the now fully-restored Mackintosh at The Willow on Sauchiehall Street, the fourth and final tearooms established by Miss Catherine Cranston to provide alternatives to venues based on alcohol consumption. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Miss Cranston had collaborated several times however in 1903 he was given free rein to design every element of these tea rooms, including furniture. Following some decades of neglect, in 2016 a massive restoration project set about returning this venue to its former glory, and the tearooms opened once again in 2018.

Breakfast view - from the excellent Wilson Street Pantry

Some of our fellow breakfast diners at the Wilson Street Pantry
- pipers getting ready for another day of competition

Kevin was served an entire avocado for his breakfast at
The Wilson Street Pantry!

My breakfast at The Wilson Street Pantry - poached eggs and vegetarian haggis
on sourdough

Mackintosh at the Willow - the now fully-restored tea rooms on Sauchiehall Street,
designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Miss Kate Cranston and opened in 1903

Duchess Grey tea served in traditional Willlow Pattern china.
Apparently the only argument Mackintosh and Cranston had, in all their years of association,
was over this china - Cranston was for it, Mackintosh wanted plain white

Kevin's choice at Mackintosh at the Willow - a strawberry, cream & short pastry concoction

The Front Saloon on the ground floor of Mackintosh at the Willow in Glasgow

The Gallery Mezzanine at Mackintosh at The Willow in Glasgow

The tearooms at Mackintosh at the Willow have a shop and small museum adjacent.
It's well worth the £5.50 to wander through the exhibition - it is excellent

Of course our trip to Glasgow was not without its cultural highlights. For many years I've wanted to visit Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, particularly since its refurbishment in 2006, but somehow I just never got around to it. So after an invigorating one-hour, post-breakfast walk, we arrived at this red sandstone icon built in the Spanish Baroque style in 1901.

The interior is absolutely sensational, particularly the great hall with its soaring ceilings and gigantic pipe organ which boasts the world's longest-running free daily organ recital. 

I was particularly interested the gallery's collection of items relating to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his coterie, but was also pleased to discover an artistic group with which I was previously unfamiliar, the Scottish Colourists - Francis Cadell, Leslie Hunter, Samuel Peploe and J.D. Fergusson.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

The great hall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum in Glasgow

Floating Heads installation by Sophie Cave at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

J D Fergusson’s sculpture composed almost entirely of round shapes:
Easter, Hymn to the Sun (about 1924)
- part of the Scottish Colourists exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

A Lady in Black by FCB Cadell, 1925
- part of the Scottish Colourists exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

An array of fabulous objets designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and other Scottish art nouveau artistes, including:
(back, left) Domino Clock designed by CRM, made by interned German craftsmen on the Isle of Man in 1917
(back, right) Pair of ebonised wood, mother-of-pearl and silver candlesticks designed by CRM (1905)
(front) Copper kettle designed by one of CRM's contemporaries, Christopher Dresser (1880-1885) 

One of a pair of panels designed and made by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh for the 
Ladies' Luncheon Room in the Ingram Street Tearooms in 1900-01:
The Dew

A very poor photo given the restricted lighting in this part of the exhibition, but how fabulous
is this cutlery at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum?
These were part of a 12-place setting of dining cutlery commissioned by artists Jessie and Fra Newbery in 1902 as a gift from their parents

And lastly, a brief and random selection of photos that form a microcosm of this trip - including, of course the wedding that prompted our return to Glasgow.

Pipers, pipers everywhere!

I loved this window display just down the street from Sarti on Bath Street

Glasgow is full of delightful historical gems like this fantastic art nouveau entrance.
In the early 20th century this would have been the height of architectural sophistication

WEST Brewery in Glasgow, the venue for the civil ceremony and reception of our friends Rich and Alex

Candelabra and wildflowers as centrepiece for the tables at Rich & Alex's wedding
at WEST Brewery, Glasgow

Yours Truly and Kevin, in our finery for the very informal wedding on a very warm day in Glasgow

Another shot of the wedding venue, this time in the early evening sun - WEST Brewery in Glasgow

Statue of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Finnieston, Glasgow

Here's hoping by the time I next publish a post, the UK climate has returned to something akin to normality. Come on, Autumn!

Until next time,

- Maree  xo

Will this summer never end?!

This green and pleasant land... no longer.
This is how our backyard has looked for many weeks now

I am sure most of you have heard about the extreme heat Europe has been suffering in recent weeks, including here in the UK where records have been broken, with multiple locations surpassing 40ºC for the first time ever over a three-day period. For weeks either side of that particularly horrific week, temperatures have ranged from mid 20s to mid 30s, much higher than the traditional average. 

The BBC weather forecast on 18 July 2022 - for the following day
*the horror*

But worst of all has been the lack of rain. It's literally been months since we had any - I think perhaps six or seven weeks ago we had a shower that lasted about two minutes, but nothing since. It's the driest year since 1975 and I believe that record will soon be broken. 

Much of the southern half of England is now officially in drought, with water restrictions imposed. I feel like I am back in Australia. All those photos I've published over the years, showing our back garden in all its verdant, lush glory... they are a distant memory. The photo at the top of this blog post represents what the garden has looked like for the past six weeks or so. All the trees in the surrounding woods are stress-shedding their leaves as a survival tactic. The leaves are expendable - they are one less thing the trees have to feed.

Moving on...

Not long after returning from Norway in July, Kevin was contacted by a work colleague who had tragically lost both her elderly parents in the space of a couple of weeks. Michele had solemnly promised her mother that she would take care of the couple's beloved cat, Daisy May - however that was problematic in that Michele and her husband are currently living in rented accommodation with their own 15-year-old cat, whilst their house is being renovated.

With feelings of guilt and desperation in equal measure, Michele thought of us. In short, we have inherited a 17-year-old, arthritic tortoiseshell cat who, in her first few days at our place, hid behind or under furniture, refusing to eat, drink, wee or poo. Thankfully on Day 4 she finally emerged and has since warmed to us. Daisy May is the cutest little thing, and after some initial and quite labour-intensive toileting issues, she's pretty low maintenance as she sleeps about 17 hours a day. In the past couple of weeks she's also started spending more time outside in the garden, which is also helping with the ablutions issue. 

We're not sure how long we'll have Daisy May - at present we are just 'fostering' but moving house is traumatic for a geriatric cat and there's every chance she'll live with us indefinitely.

Daisy May - 17 years young

As you can see from these two photos, the 'crossed paws' pose
is a favourite of Daisy May's

In the midst of all this we had a brief sortie to Bristol, planned prior to the arrival of Daisy May, which city I had not visited since 1986 when I stayed with friends who were running a pub there. It was Kevin's first time in Bristol, but he really was at no disadvantage because the city has changed so dramatically in the past couple of decades that I recognised almost nothing.

Neighbour Saskia was happy to spend time with Daisy May for the couple of days we were in Bristol, so that worked out fine.

View from our Bristol hotel room, over the Avon Gorge and towards the Clifton Suspension Bridge

One of the Clifton Suspension Bridge pylons.
Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, its construction was not completed until 1864, some five years after his death

Kevin and Yours Truly with the Clifton Suspension Bridge in the background

The Avon Gorge Hotel, where we stayed in Bristol

Moody colours and an impressive chandelier in the foyer of our Bristol hotel,
The Avon Gorge Hotel

View of the Clifton Suspension Bridge from the bar of the Avon Gorge Hotel

The terrace of the Avon Gorge Hotel at night - viewed from our bedroom

Thankfully we avoided the extreme heat that bookended our trip to Bristol, and we were able to trudge around an entire day, taking in the sights.

Our hotel was located in the desirable Clifton Village area, and there were plenty of dining and shopping options within a short walk of our accommodation. We also bought tickets for a hop-on / hop-off bus which allowed us to explore a much wider area of the city.

One of the pretty streets in Clifton Village in Bristol

Clifton Village has an abundance of period architecture
- these lovely terraces were just across the street from our hotel

Bristol is incredibly hilly, and many of the streets are much higher on one side
than the other - with stone steps leading up to house entrances

Colourful and quirky houses in Clifton Village

Characterful buildings abound in the Clifton Village part of Bristol

Fabulous nautical lighting in an Italian café where we breakfasted on our first morning

Every street in Bristol seems to have historic and well preserved stone buildings

Of course Bristol has a strong maritime history, but these days it constitutes a much smaller part of the city's industry. There are still commercial ports in operation but much of the dockside area has been redeveloped into apartment blocks, cafés and restaurants. The biggest earners for the city are now creative media, technology, electronics and aerospace engineering industries.

There's also a huge student population, with two universities attracting both British and international students - the University of Bristol and the University of Western England. 

The Old Fish Market pub in Bristol

Vibrantly painted houses above Bristol's harbour

The former Lloyds Banking Group building which is about to be converted into apartments

This fabulous 1960s architectural gem is a car park!
- NCP Car Park on Prince Street, Bristol

We were very happy with the dining options in this student-friendly city, which meant there were affordable options in abundance. On our second evening we dined at a vegan mezze bar called Koo Cha. The food was incredible, but unfortunately the venue suffered from that all too common malaise in modern eateries - no soft furnishings which translates into noise reverberation of such a volume that it's impossible to hold a conversation. We fled after our main course, unable to stand it any longer. 

Fortunately, just down the street we stumbled upon the utterly charming and authentically French bistro La Guinguette, where we indulged in dessert, coffee and a glass of Monbazillac. Now, I don't remember the last time I saw Crêpes Suzette on a menu, but it would have to have been sometime in the mid 80s, and even then it was considered a bit retro, a hangover from 1970s dinner parties. And yes, Dear Reader, I succumbed to temptation! I'm happy to report our waiter offered the full theatre of this dish that I remembered of yore - see photo below.

Fantastic middle eastern vegan food at Koo Cha in the Montpelier
district of Bristol, but the noise inside was truly awful

Oh, boy - the food was amazing at Koo Cha!
Those dishes are small, trust me :-D 

We stumbled upon this adorable Parisian bistro, La Guinguette,
just down the road from Koo Cha

My first Crêpes Suzette since the 1980s! Absolutely delicious 

We'd decided to go to Bristol for a short break because we have recently been exploring in greater depth the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset, with a view to potentially buying a house in the next year or two. It seemed sensible to include Bristol in our research. I can't say I'll be racing back there - it was interesting and perfectly pleasant, but there was nothing that really grabbed me.

But a bonus of our trip to Bristol was that we 'discovered' Bradford-on-Avon because we had to drive through it. I mean, how has this gorgeous town escaped my notice up until now?! It's one of those weird gaps in my UK knowledge, and of course the name was familiar to me, but I really had no sense of what it was like, or even where it was.

The Town Bridge over the River Avon, in Bradford-on-Avon

Beautiful Georgian architecture everywhere you turn in Bradford-on-Avon

Casement windows and summer blooms in Bradford-on-Avon

Bradford-on-Avon is an Instagrammer's dream!
The Bridge Tea Rooms turn up frequently on 'beautiful England' social media accounts

Being only a 30-minute drive south-east from Bath, most of the buildings in Bradford-on-Avon are constructed of that beautiful pale coloured 'Bath stone' and the town is incredibly well preserved, with two very important historic buildings - a tiny Saxon church dating back to somewhere between 700-1,000 AD, and a gigantic tithe barn constructed in the 14th century and once part of nearby Shaftesbury Abbey in Dorset (in the Middle Ages it was the richest nunnery in England). For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, the Abbey was entitled to 10 per cent of the produce of its tenant farmers - this was called a tithe - and the barn was built to store that produce. 

Both historic buildings can be visited free of charge.

There are many winding, steep streets leading away from the Avon River which is the hub of the town, and cosy little lanes dotted with independent shops and cafés, as well as a small street market twice a week. 

With a population of only 10,000 and being situated in the middle of beautiful Wiltshire countryside, it's somewhere we could happily consider living - despite only having spent a few hours there.

The tiny Church of St Laurence in Bradford-on-Avon, one of the few surviving Saxon churches in England. It dates back to somewhere between 700-1,000 AD
(and just look at that yellowed grass....)

Altar of the Church of St Laurence, Bradford-on-Avon

The truly impressive Tithe Barn in Bradford-on-Avon, dating from around 1330

The former Abbey Mill, now converted to apartments, in Bradford-on-Avon

St Thomas More Catholic Church in Bradford-on-Avon 
(this building used to be the Town Hall)

Doors of Holy Trinity Church in Bradford-on-Avon

One of the sweet little lanes in Bradford-on-Avon

There are some mighty hills in Bradford-on-Avon!

It's been great to get back out exploring, now that Covid has lost some of its grip on the world, but of course we are still very content at Frensham where there is much to take delight in, despite this abominably hot and dry summer.

At long last I have managed to capture the antics of two of our regular badger visitors in all their stripey-faced, black-stockinged glory. Click on the two short video links below, and have your volume up!

At the time of publishing this blog post, we have just returned from a few days in Glasgow where we attended a wedding - and where it was unusually hot at 27ºC, but that was 10ºC cooler than Surrey so we weren't complaining! A short blog post on that trip coming soon...

Until next time,

- Maree  xo